Bonanza?? Your TiVo hates you, what did you do to make it so mad? Mine is like, first gen, and it’s old so I’m surprised it even remembers what I love to watch. Be Strong. Hell, mine will still suggest cool shows like Daria and Beavis&Butthead;re-runs.

Treat it like a puppy Greg. Show it love, but be firm with your boundaries. If you piss it off real bad you’ll come home to recorded episodes of The View and Dr. Phil.

I had to turn that suggestion stuff off.  The majority of the stuff that gets put on Tivo is the girls, so all the Tivo suggestions are spent on TLC.

And, if I find out my Tivo’s not laughing at Aqua Teen, I’m smashing it to bits.

I would totally watch Seventh Heaven if all the kids were fast food items and the very special family crisis were things like running out of ketchup… in the family spaceship.

I love my TiVo (known as Steve O., around these parts--the name Sweet Ass was already taken by the computer printer) but I do occasionally get annoyed that it doesn’t understand the style of humor appreciated by us humans.  For example: shows featuring intoxicated people screaming incoherently at the law are funny and fun to watch(Cops) but mass murderers on multi-state rampages are not (America’s Most Wanted).  We don’t have cable, so we’ve received some hilarious suggestions--Korean gameshows, Jerry Springer en Espanol, the Pope’s funeral, an Irish hurling tournament that looked like it was filmed in the 70s--because Steve is desperate for new material among the limited offerings and so badly wants to please.  It’s like an eager dog you’re trying to train to fetch your newspaper but who instead consistently brings you a wad of dirty paper towels.

I hear celebrities list their own name as a subject of interest so TiVo will continually record stuff with them in it.  I wish I could do that.  I don’t have TiVo or a film career.

I can’t get my Tivo to *stop* recording AquaTeen.  Or shows on the military channel.  Or shows in Spanish (we eventually had to customize our channel lineup and deny that we got any Spanish channels whatsoever).

On the other hand, Tivo told us about Graham Norton, catches stray episodes of Futurama and random shows on the Food Network, and wacky British shows that I love.

The key thing is to thumbsdown things as they appear in your suggestions.  The more you thumbsdown, the more it learns.  It’s true.  It just throws random crap out in the beginning unless you tell it what you don’t like.  Whenever I go through the guide, I spend some time thumbs downing and thumbsupping things (remember to thumbsdown a guilty pleasure that you just happen to watch--like oh I don’t know Punk’d or something--otherwise you’ll get every stupidass MTV show on the planet.  When you watch something you automatically give it a thumbs up.)

That’s so hot!
Aqua Teen Hunger Force rocks...I love Frylock and meatwad!

don’t cave, greg. be strong.

I do use the thumbs up/down thing, and even picked off shows from the recommended list.  And it still gives me 7th Heaven. But it also snagged the Colbert Report for me last night, so I’m not ready to turn off the Suggestions yet.

I hate the TiVo ads because every time I see it I think I need one and I’m ready to dial and then I remember that I’m trying to stop watching so much TV and I put the phone down. Then I see the ad and the vicious cycle starts all over.

Lorne Greene and Battlestar...you have to admit the TiVo was pretty clever.

so, when do i get to meet this tivo?

holy $h!t that was funny!
I’m Murder She Wrote all the way, despite not being over 70.

tivo was giving me suggestions of christian broadcasting featuring insulin-shock-inducing didi cohn wannabes using handpuppets to show what it was like to bring jesus into their lives. I AM NOT KIDDING.  I love tivo, but suggestions have been off since week one.  reminds me of a line from “Overheard in New York:” “oh yeah?  well my fist has a suggestion for your face.”

Sadly, that’s a better conversation than I had with anybody today.

I watched Seventh Heaven, because the basketball playing chick was smokin’ hot.

i’m with the roosters (whose comment pseudonym, btw, cracked me up all over again about the chicken-and-egg post from a while back).  today was a day sans laughs.  thanks for this one, gerg.

Oh, come ON now.......Aqua Teen Hunger Force sucks rocks....or.....uh.....meatballs.

The Oblongs is where it’s at.

And Romy, you are a fickle thing. You told ME that I supplied a needed laugh today......you’re such a tease!

OK, I just now clicked on my TiVo’s “suggestions” list. I haven’t done that in years.  Anyway, if it were up to TiVo, this is what would be on my virtual plate over the next 24 hours:
King of the Hill
Rolie Polie Olie (we do have a 3-year-old)
Will & Grace
The Cosby Show (?????)
Dr. Phil (guilty pleasure)
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (?!?!?!?!?)
Malcolm in the Middle
Astros @ Cardinals (natch)
Late Show with David Letterman (natch)
The Simpsons
The Fairly OddParents
NUMB3RS
Sex and the City
Real Time With Bill Maher
Dog Show
Men In Black
College Football
The Sopranos

Judging by the Cosby Show and the Fresh Prince, I’m thinking that once it gets to know you, maybe Tivo takes a stab at what you might have watched 20 years ago?  “Well, they watch Bernie Mac now, I bet they watched Cosby then...”

Add “Men in Black” and it looks like TiVo is onto my Will Smith crush.  Uh-oh.

And does everyone have their little buddy programmed to pick up “The Boondocks” on Nov. 6?  Just checking!

I am so glad we don’t have TiVo (I think it doesn’t exist in Britain) as the way I avoid spending all of my time watching nonsense is by forgetting what time it’s on. Involve an even halfway-intelligent video recorder, and this excellent system would go out of the window. Right now, all I watch is “Lost” and “University Challenge” (like “College Bowl"), so I have no idea what TiVo would make of that.

I’d not object to it recommending “Malcolm in the Middle”, but can’t see how it would get there from “University Challenge”.

TiVo is such a slut!  And here I thought he was MY boyfriend.

Oh anna, just go get a TiVo. I actually watch less tv because i have one. You know those hour-long shows are only like, maybe 40 minutes without the commercials? Totally! That leaves 20 extra minutes to play video games....or do chores...or get to work on time. The number of ways you spend the extra minutes is endless.

Interesting list Belinda I’ll have to take a look at mine someday. I’ve not really checked it out in eons.

I do use the “thumbs up/thumbs down” feature all the time though just because it’s fun. For instance, if I happen to see Paris Hilton on the screen I scream out “Die die die!” while pressing the thumbs down simultaneously three times.

You are a master of punctuation.

Oh, it gets rid of adverts. I suppose I should have realised that. Although it wouldn’t save _that_ much time, as they aren’t allowed to show so many ads per hour on British TV.

“Lost” is stuck together really weirdly because of this. There are parts in the story where you can tell there would have originally been an ad-break, but there isn’t now - and some weeks, there’s a break really early (before the title, even, which is weird) and then a long period without any.

When we used to have “Sunset Beach” on Channel Five, it was even more blatant. You’d have someone saying “But they told me you were dead!” Intense look. Cut to a shot of the beach. Back to the scene: “I thought you were dead!” Another pause. Cut to another scene…

Oh, that series was so bad. And they’re still showing it repeated on Five.

My friend Sam has an incredible knack for voices. However, this was a trick/skill that didn’t really interest any of us until he revealed that he could do Meatball. OMG. It is the.best.thing.ever. EVER, I tell you. I thought, the first day he did it, that it would get old but it doesn’t. I’m giggling now just thinking about it.

But yeah, uhm, Tivo. Sure. I want one. If you ever get sick of yours I’ll happily take it off your hands. Because I’m that kind of nice.

You don’t like ATHF? What did the Mooninites do to you?

(And Patricia, it’s Meatwad, not Meatball… see, a meatball is only a ball, but Meatwad can be a hot dog AND an igloo AND a meat bridge. And how Greg doesn’t find that brilliantly hilarious, I have no earthly idea.)

EV, put the crack pipe down.  I love ATHF; it’s my TIVO that doesn’t think it’s funny.

Oh, uh, I was reading too fast. Ok, everything’s ok here, deep breath. And actually the reason I came back to your site was to let you a little off the hook since I just read on Kate’s blog that you love Octavia Butler, which you maybe just tell girls to get the action, but either way it gets points.